THE WHEEL

Why real-world racing skill doesn’t always mean sim success

“My job in the sim is to replicate the way I drive on-track as closely as I can in order to help create the correct data and get a realistic feel of the car,” says Anthony Davidson, who drives simulators for Mercedes. The aim of these simulators is to replicate the conditions on the track, with the feel of the controls needing to match the real car. “One thing I’ve learned through playing [ F1 2019] online and hunting for the fastest lap time is that you end up moving away from how you’d drive in reality, teaching yourself to ignore certain inputs from the steering motor, or how you use the throttle, brake pedal or gears in order to achieve a faster lap time.”